Digital Games Showcase

Come check out a selection of independent games from the Greater Boston Area and beyond. There are over 30 games in the Digital Games Showcase, from top and brand new talents, in states ranging from Prototypes to Polished Perfections. Attendees at the Boston Festival of Indie Games can vote for their favorite games in the following categories:

Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Robin Hunicke, Game Designer/Producer

“Finding Meaning in Gameplay”

2013

Game designer and producer Robin Hunicke is known for her role on the award-winning downloadable game Journeyon Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN). Her keynote presentation, titled “Finding Meaning in Gameplay”, will focus on how developers can create games that inspire new feelings, by looking inward and examining the everyday experiences of their own lives.

As the executive producer of Journey, Hunicke ran a small indie team of roughly a dozen game developers. The gametakes players from desert to mountaintop, through a breathtaking series of landscapes. Along the way, they cross paths with other players and can choose to adventure on together or alone. The experience struck the game world with its uniquely emotional qualities, while illustrating the high level of polish that a relatively small game development team can deliver. Journey achieved worldwide critical acclaim and marketplace success, as well as securing countless awards and nominations for game design, online innovation and artistic execution from numerous respected organizations such as BAFTA and the Grammys.

An artist and computer scientist by training, Hunicke recently co-founded the independent game studio, Funomena. There, alongside fellow Journey developer Martin Middleton, she is building a team to work on experimental gameplay projects and games for social good. Robin’s interest in the unique power of games to bring people together began with her early work on family-friendly franchises MySims and Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox for Nintendo Wii.

Recognized as an influential woman in games, Robin is an evangelist for diversity of thought and participation in game design and game culture. She co-organizes the annual Experimental Gameplay Workshop at GDC, has chaired the IndieCade Festival, and has published and lectured extensively on the MDA model of game design. She believes developers can create novel, experiential games by focusing on the feeling.

More information regarding 2014′s Speakers Coming Soon!

The 2012 Festival Featured the following keynote speakers:

Leigh Alexander

Leigh Alexander covers the art and business of video games at Gamasutra, and writes a monthly column on the culture surrounding games and gamers at Kotaku, as well as a monthly column on industry issues at EDGE Magazine. She is editor of the games section at NYLON Guys magazine, maintains her Sexy Videogameland weblog and is a contributor to Thought Catalog, where she often focuses on the social media and internet culture landscape. Her work has appeared in Slate, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, Paste and a host of other publications, and she frequently speaks at events on the business and design of social media and the intersection of interactive design with the real world.

Jason Scott

My name is Jason Scott. Since I was 9 years old, I have had a fervent love of computers and technology, bounded only by realities of economics and time. From the BBS world of the 80′s to the early wonders of the Internet and to the Web and beyond, I’ve dabbled and dosed myself in whatever hot new computing fads and freakishness this wonderful world could come up with.

As I entered into my late 20′s, I realized I had been a part of many great things, and the perspective I had gained since that time gave me ideas. The most potent of these ideas has been to spread the feelings, horrors and astonishments of computing’s history to people who came into it late, or never came into it at all.

I wasn’t a Big Player in the Turning Points of the last 20 years, but I was a good listener and a good watcher, and I hope that what I do bring to you will both excite and intrigue. If you were there, we’ll reminisce together. And if you weren’t there, do I have a story to tell you….

Card/Board/Tabletop Games

This year’s card/board/tabletop games will be invited to participate in a competitive showcase where they will be eligible for great prizes! The board gaming area will also allow participants to check out games for group play courtesy of festival sponsors Days of Wonder and Rio Grande Games.

In 2012, our tabletop game room featured demos from indie board and card game designers. Check out 2012′s list of games and their descriptions here.